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Saturday, July 10, 2010

"Original Sinners" on God and Abraham

Sometimes I see a religious book at the library and even though it's not by a familiar author, I think, "Maybe I'll give this book a try just to see what other views are out there." At times I've rather enjoyed the unusual approaches [read: not my normal evangelical/Baptist views on things] and lessons I've learned looking at biblical topics from other perspectives. Still, other times I've been left shaking my head at people and their ideas. Latest case in point:

Original Sinners by John R. Coats...it comes with the tag line: A New Interpretation of Genesis. So I thought I'd see what the people who believe Genesis more as an allegory believe. Right?

This man grew up attending a Southern Baptist church in Texas in the fifties. I assume his mother took them to church since he said his father was nonreligious. Anyway, the author questioned a lot of what he was taught in Sunday school and later rejected much of those interpretations of the Bible and became an Episcopal priest. For those not understanding what this means because denominational labels confuse you, I'd translate it to mean he liberalized his views on Scripture quite a bit. Now, I have read books and ideas from others who have undergone similar changes in life and found I could appreciate many things they believe. And while this guy does have some interesting thoughts on Genesis -- I especially enjoyed some of the talk of certain Hebrew words and customs of the time as well as the rabbi interpretations (Midrash) -- I can't help but ponder how such a person could ever lead a church. (Yes, I know this shows my intolerance perhaps, but I'm keeping it real as to what thoughts I had.)

While some, no doubt, love him and his style, I find him way too cynical and irreverent for my tastes.

For instance, concerning the story of the Tower of Babel where God sees the people building a tower towards heaven and then confuses their language and scatters them, the author writes, "J's Yahweh being so like us in his emotional makeup, it's not all that surprising that rather than asking them what they're up to, he simply goes with his assumptions. " (pg. 68)

My thoughts were more along the line, "Um, if God knows everything, don't you think He knows what they are up to without asking?"

I suppose his God is not all-knowing. Mine is.

He also wrote, "Yahweh, Creator of the Universe, Giver of the Law, et cetera, was something of a situational ethicist when it came to playing by his own rules. Mind you, he himself did not violate the rules, but he used proxies instead, people with flexible character whose moral fiber could be woven into whatever cloth was most appropriate to the situation...In short, young Jacob's sorry character was a divine asset." (pg. 142)

Written as if God needed Jacob's deceitfulness in order to put Jacob into the position God had promised. I always thought God could accomplish His will without Jacob's duplicity and Jacob just took things into his own hands much like we are prone to do. Hello, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael.

Also this gem:

"I continue to bump up against this certainty that Yahweh should clean up his act....On the other hand, I find this portrait of the creator's slick side ironic, amusing, and even soothing with its implication that my own smarmier side is but the result of spiritual DNA inherited from that One in whose image I was made." (pg. 143)

Y'know...I wouldn't mind this stuff if an atheist wrote it. I have a few blogging acquaintances from whom I could hear these mocking paragraphs and it not bother me so much. But this is a man who lead a congregation of Christians and he can speak this way about God? This is what I find baffling!

Also his thoughts on Abraham are ....um, well, you can see for yourself. As one reading from a 21st-century point of view without good thoughts of God, I guess I can see his perspective on the sacrificing-his-son story.

"Abraham is not a nice man, which can be said of many secular and religious leaders. Unlike other leaders who rise to power, however, he has no particular charisma, no warmth to draw the reader to him. ... In the confidence game he runs on Pharoah, a wild, risk-taking side emerges, but in the game he runs on Abimelech, he shows an absence of concern for the consequences of his actions on the population of an entire kingdom, which is different only in scale from his lack of concern for Hagar and Ishmael when Sarah decides to leave them in the desert to die. Again, these are characteristics of many 'great' men and women throughout history -- the disregard for other people's money, safety, dignity, jobs, and the willingness to play risky games for uncertain affect, plodding along for three days on the way to Mount Moriah, where he will kill his son. By the normative standards of our own time, were the events on Moriah made known, Isaac would be removed from the home, while Abraham would almost certainly be judged as a danger to society and placed for an indeterminate time in a state mental health facility. Yet three of the world's religions are rooted in him, and whether one regards him as a historical figure or a literary character, he remains one of the most influential figures in human history." (pg. 131)

Is there any wonder so many of us Jews, Christians and Muslims are crazy? Look at our chief patriarch and God! No wonder the world is a mess!

Really, after reading one book from both this guy and Bart Ehrman, I'd choose the latter as my pastor. And Ehrman is agnostic.

8 comments:

Susanne,Thanks for the interesting post. I agree from the points you have posted that he seems to have a flipancy and a lack of reverence for God which you would expect to find in a religious leader.

On the question of Abraham's conduct - perhaps this author actually has not had any real religious experiences where he felt God was trying to communicate with him. I am sure Abraham had revelation or dreams from God that he should do this but he should TRUST God to make the situation correct. He only 'abandoned' Hagar because he had been assured that God would care for them. He didn't wake up and one day decide to dump them in the desert.

Even 'average' (ie. not prophets) people who pray to God recieve dreams where they feel some message is being communicated and it spurs them towards a certain action or decision. Perhaps this author has not acted on any 'inspiration' like that.

What was the point you were discussing in the earlier posts about 'wise and learned' and 'knowing' God. Perhaps some of those same points are relevant here?

"By the normative standards of our own time, were the events on Moriah made known, Isaac would be removed from the home, while Abraham would almost certainly be judged as a danger to society and placed for an indeterminate time in a state mental health facility."

Haha! OMG! This is hilarious. I have thought about that often. So funny to see it written out like this!

Sarah, thanks for your comments. I should say he's not all bad. In fact he has intertwined some of his own story and I'm learning more about him that makes me understand him a bit better. (I hadn't quite finished the book when I posted this earlier.) And he does a nice job of recognizing and appreciating the *humanity* of the Bible characters and the fact that we might not like certain characteristics in some of them because we recognize the same ugly traits in ourselves. I support him on that.

It's just the way he is kind of flippant about God...eh, maybe I'm taking it too personally. Again, I'd just not like this man as my pastor. A friend, maybe, but not a spiritual leader.

Here is yet another interpretation of Genesis--an interpretation that has sent a lot of people into a white-hot rage. The folks over at "Christianity Today" are terrified of me and refuse to allow me to post comments on that magazine's blog. The blog owner of "RELIGIOUS FORUMS" has banned me for life from posting comments on his blog. A certain Lutheran theologian has actually threatened me. Most just laugh at me as they spew out expletives and obscenities. Why all the rage and terror and nervous giggling? Because Adam and Eve had anal sex, which is the original sin mystery Saint Augustine came so close to solving. (He came to the conclusion their sin was penile/vaginal sex.) I just happen to be the unfortunate messenger caught in the mess. If something is wrong with this very upsetting exegesis, then who is intelligent enough to find the error? I challenge you regardless of your religious beliefs: find the error! Google "Robert Hagedorn's Blogs" and click on "WikiAnswers"

Huh. Just from the quotes that you shared it seems like he has no respect for the people of the Bible. None of us, I think, would argue that they were imperfect people, but they are our saints, our patriarchs, our forefathers. For a religious leader to show so little respect to them is disturbing to me, to say the least.

As you said in regards to his comment on the Tower of Babel, why would He need to ask them what they were doing, and why? He knew better than them what they intended, and He knew what the consequences would be.

In re: Jacob, I concur with your point entirely. Humans have a tendency to take things into our own hands, even those lucky few who have had direct revelation from God. We lack patience, and want things done *now*, and God's timing is not our own. I don't see how any of that means that God needed, or desired, Jacob's less than sterling character.

"I continue to bump up against this certainty that Yahweh should clean up his act....On the other hand, I find this portrait of the creator's slick side ironic, amusing, and even soothing with its implication that my own smarmier side is but the result of spiritual DNA inherited from that One in whose image I was made." (pg. 143)

And...now this man has found an excuse for the darker, less noble urges that he might have. Those things are a part of human nature, not divine. They are our ancestral sin, the consequence of the Fall. I'm...I don't know this man, but I'm fairly certain I couldn't respect him as a pastor or a teacher.

*shakes head* Abraham...it's not like he just took Isaac up on the hill to sacrifice him on a whim! He received revelation from God to do so. As a righteous man, could he have done anything else? It was a test of his faith! Yes, sure, if it happened in modern times, he'd be hauled away for child abuse. But *lots* of things that happened in ancient (and not so ancient) times are no longer acceptable. Saying, 'If this happened now...' is sort of pointless and meaningless.

I can only assume that this man has never felt that God communicated with him in any way. Even though I've never seen or experienced anything that would count as a 'miracle', I know for certain that God has communicated with me. Anyone who has experienced that would understand how you cannot be in doubt when it happens. It is just simple knowledge.

Amber, in all fairness he has "respect" in the sense that we can learn from their lives, but I was just a bit shocked at how he thought of God. But maybe I am just too protective....

I'm glad you agree with me on most of these things. I was wondering if I were strange somehow, but, if I'm like you.....*whew*....maybe my thoughts on John Coats is "normal" enough. :)

"And...now this man has found an excuse for the darker, less noble urges that he might have. Those things are a part of human nature, not divine. They are our ancestral sin, the consequence of the Fall. I'm...I don't know this man, but I'm fairly certain I couldn't respect him as a pastor or a teacher."

Exactly! I was like "what did they teach you at that Episcopal seminary???"

"I can only assume that this man has never felt that God communicated with him in any way. "

Well, he vaguely describes *something* he experienced as a teen when his parents took him to a friend's wedding at a Catholic church. It had to do with altar boys waving incense, I think. But even he is not sure what it was, but I think it's partly why he decided to go to seminary.

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